{
  "id": 8956584,
  "title": "Billionaire YouTuber MrBeast spent $10 million building a village in Ghana—he says viewers watch philanthropy videos less but ‘I’ll keep making them’",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/21/billionaire-youtuber-mrbeast-spent-10-million-building-a-village-in",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-21T15:50:55.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fortune",
    "slug": "fortune",
    "url": "https://fortune.com/2026/09/21/billionaire-youtuber-mrbeast-ghana-village-philanthropy-work-engagement/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Jimmy Donaldson, better known as YouTube's MrBeast, has spent $10 million to construct a village in Ghana called Abna Dakwa. The digital age has given rise to a new breed of philanthropists, and MrBeast, reported to be worth $2.6 billion, is leading the pack in terms of subscriber count on YouTube. He unveiled the completed village, complete with houses, a school, drainage improvements, a marketplace, a community farm, and a well, through a video on his platform. MrBeast's objective is to prevent children and families from engaging in illegal labor. He disclosed that his 14-year career on YouTube was preparing him for this humanitarian endeavor, which took eight months to finish. However, he acknowledged that his audience might not react as enthusiastically to his philanthropic efforts compared to his entertaining and dramatic content. When a follower pointed out that MrBeast's philanthropic videos often receive less engagement, he responded emphatically, stating, \"It's funny when people say I only help people for views because it's literally the opposite lol. Doesn't matter though, helping people brings me purpose, and even if no one watches, I'll keep making them.\"",
  "summary": "Donaldson wrote on social media platform X that his 14-year career on YouTube so far had been leading up to the humanitarian project, which took eight months to complete.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}